Donna Lopiano, One of the Most Influential Women in Sports, To Speak on Campus

Donna Lopiano, One of the Most Influential Women in Sports, To Speak on Campus

March 5, 2013

Dr. Donna Lopiano, former Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Sports Foundation and one of the most influential women in sports, will speak at Bradley University on Monday, March 11, at 7 p.m. in the Horowitz Auditorium in the Caterpillar Global Communications Center.

The presentation, titled “40 Years of Title IX: Is There Equity Yet: - Looking Back Going Forward,” is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by Bradley’s Women’s Studies Program and the Intellectual & Cultural Activities Committee.

Lopiano was named one of “The 10 Most Powerful Women in Sports” by Fox Sports and repeatedly is listed by The Sporting News as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in Sports.” She has been nationally and internationally recognized for her leadership advocating for gender equity in sports by the International Olympic Committee, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Association for Girls and Women in Sports, the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

Dr. Lopiano served for 18 years as the University of Texas at Austin Director of Women’s Athletics and is a past-president of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. During her tenure at Texas, she constructed what many believed to be the premiere women’s athletics program in the country, twice earning the top program in the nation award.

Recognized as one of the foremost national experts on gender equity in sport, Lopiano has testified about Title IX and gender equity before three Congressional committees, served as a consultant to the U.S. Office for Civil Rights Department of Health, Education and Welfare Title IX Task Force and as an expert witness in twenty-eight court cases. She also has served as a consultant to school districts, institutions of higher education and state education agencies on Title IX compliance and to non-profit organizations on governance and strategic planning.

She received a bachelor’s degree from Southern Connecticut State University, her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California and has been the recipient of five honorary doctoral degrees. She has been a college coach of men’s and women’s volleyball, women’s basketball and softball and coached the Italian national women’s softball team.

As an athlete, Dr. Lopiano participated in 26 national championships in four sports and was a nine-time All-American at four different positions in softball. She is a member of the National Sports Hall of Fame, the National Softball Hall of Fame and the Connecticut and Texas Women’s Halls of Fame, among others.